Stocks: Making Nothing Out of Something

Stocks finished mix today, though it’s probably more fair to say they hardly moved at all. Intel (INTC), Facebook (FB) and Achillion Pharmaceuticals (ACHN) gained, while CR Bard (BCR) and eHealth (EHTH) fell.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.02% to 16,945.92, a record high, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.04% to 4,338.00, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.02% to 1,950.79 and the small-company Russell 2000 dropped 0.3% to 1,172.71.

CR Bard fell 4.7% to 141.05, making it the S&P 500′s biggest loser, while Intel jumped 1.1% to $28.24, making it the biggest percentage gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Intel rose despite the fact that Canaccord Genuity resumed its shares with a Hold rating. “We believe increased ARM competition certainly doesn't mean Intel's strong data center growth is finished, but we believe Intel's current guidance for re-accelerating Data Center Group (DCG) revenue growth to 15% could prove aggressive,” notes Canaccord’s Matthew Ramsay.

The Nasdaq 100 got a boost from Facebook, which rose 4.6% to $65.77. Facebook gained despite one analyst raising the possibility that Apple (AAPL) could potentially limit its ability to place ads on its own apps.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals gained 83% to $7.79 today after the FDA said the company could continue trials for its hepatitis-C treatment. That wasn’t enough to lift the Russell 2000, which got dragged down by eHealth. eHealth plunged 13% to $33.91 after Jefferies cut its shares to Hold from Buy.

Instinet’s Frank Cappelleri warns that small-caps better not start plunging again:

We have harped on the importance of this recent rally, and how the Russell must prove it can regain its leadership qualities it enjoyed in 2013. Thus, with the market making new highs on the back of Growth being "back in favor," it is imperative that the next decline doesn't waste the last two weeks of accumulation.

That Head & Shoulder potential is still there, thus, the hope is that if the helium is let out of this Small Cap balloon soon, that it is done gradually. Alternatively, a pop may just wake up stubborn bears once again.

Morgan Stanley’s Adam Parker and team dispute the notion that the market has gone through a “value rotation.” They explain:

The recent turmoil in US equities has been called a "value rotation," but as we’ve written before this is only half true. While mega-cap non-growth stocks have outperformed small-cap growth stocks since March, there has been no net gain for small-cap non-growth stocks relative to mega-cap growth. In fact, these two dimensions of style performance have been uncorrelated since mid-December, and were only aligned for a two-week period (March 19 – April 4). Over the last two months, mega- and large-cap growth stocks have outperformed small- and mid-cap non-growth stocks, suggesting that the rotation was actually rather nuanced.

Nuance? Clearly, Parker is a strategist, not a blogger.